KORTH PRS Impressions

It was said best here, “Korth: you either know the name or you don’t. And if you do know it, you either dream of one day scraping together the scratch to buy one of the legendary German gunmaker’s custom pistols, or you think it’s silly to shell out untold thousands of dollars for a gun that’s not even made in the USA.”

In my opinion, when it comes to handguns there is no finer choice than a Korth pistol, and I own this monument to excess. The announcement of the new Korth PRS made me weak in the knees too, and this video shows how awesome it really is:

I wandered over to the Korth booth and it was manned by three German men who did not speak English very well, but were eager to show me their firearms.

I walked up to the man who seemed to be the most senior of the bunch and asked if the new PRS was like the old H&K P9/P9s pistol in that is uses a form of roller delayed blowback with a fixed barrel. His response was neat:

“Vee hav taken ze best that America has to offer, the 1911 pistol and combined it with classic German engineering to make what vee believe is ze best pistol on Earth. This Pistol is the best of both countries!”

I was getting taken to school here, the man knew his product well.

I thought that was too cool. He asked if i wanted to try out their line of firearms and it took me a nanosecond to run up to the firing line.

Two other employees were working with a revolver (starting at $6,000) at the time:

I was more interested in the automatics myself, and a pair of PRS pistols awaited me:

I blasted through a magazine with the shorter model on a small gong that was 7-10 yards away. The gun shot incredibly, with little recoil for a fixed barrel .45acp firearm.

The one I really wanted to shoot was the longer barreled competition model with the red dot. I got behind it and tried my luck and hitting the far gong:

The trigger is so light and so crisp that it surprised the hell out of me, breaking at 2 pounds or so. The red dot and familiar 1911 styling also made hitting anything with the red dot over it a breeze:

As for price, the PRS will come in at around $3,000 and for that amount, they can count on me as a buyer.

Because of the small language barrier I had difficulty getting all of my technical questions answered. I asked the oldest man if the rollers would have to be replaced periodically due to wear, like on any HK roller gun. He looked at me, not quite sure of what I was asking so I asked another rep. The three of them spoke in German for about 30 seconds after I asked my question, looked at me and then responded with a simple “no”. While nice to know, I did not want to take any more of these gentlemen’s time with a line forming behind me.

Shooting the PRS was a great experience, and as a result I know what my next handgun will be.

These pistol are made for target shooting, and not that expensive for such a gun. Sig Sauers X-Six line is in the same league, as are Les Bears and STI.

FourString

Yep, it’s very interesting that anyone would balk at the price of a Korth and not at the price of the custom 1911’s you see in the states which are *quite* popular and readily accepted given their high price!

(The same applies to H&K’s, which despite being more combat-oriented than custom, aren’t at all that expensive when put into perspective)

PCP

Germans and their love affair with roller locked/delayed stuff… well they work but they are far too finicky and tolerance dependent for my like. The spring around the barrel i neat, but considering the bore height is still quite high I don’t see why they bothered doing that; you still have to consider the effects on temperature on the spring. I have no doubt this thing must be a joy to shot and is absurdly accurate, but I have my doubts about its feasability as a combat pistol primary due to the notable finnickness of the roller system with ammo (with can vary radiacally in terms of power and bullet weight in a pistol).

This is not a combat pistol, but rather a match pistol that must be maintained like a high performance machine.

iksnilol

I thought the roller system is reliable. it is simpler than a gas system, isn’t it?

John

Yes and no. While it is simpler in theory/design, roller delayed guns are more finicky because they rely on the rollers and its recesses to fit together with close tolerances. If that lockup is mismatched, it results in a change in headspace (bolt gap) this tends to happen over time as the rollers are a pretty high stress area. As said in the article, you need to replace the rollers periodically to prevent a dangerous change in bolt gap

If you read about the history of the Gerat 03 –> Gerat 06 ->-> G3 you’ll noticed that the development of the roller delayed blowback was a series of compromises that was born out of the Germans trying to simplify their guns.
Doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work though, I mean look at the MP5, it’s still the gold standard for modern SMGs

iksnilol

You guys are hi-tech. I still stick to garage made open bolt submachine guns.

Just kidding. MP5s are common SMGs here though I have seen many MP40s and Thompsons.

iksnilol

You guys are hi-tech. I still stick to garage made open bolt submachine guns.

Just kidding. MP5s are common SMGs here though I have seen many MP40s and Thompsons.

It was. One had to take it to a trained armorer for detail stripping and checking out the inner components for wear and tear, and that was why HK introduced new line of SMGs for easier and more user friendly maintainence. That is from HK itself. I am not questioning the reliability of MP5.

I can detail strip my select fire MP5 in about an hour, whereas I can field strip it in 20 seconds. I can replace rollers in about 5 minutes or less. The only hard part is punching out the barrel, but you only do that every 30,000 rounds or so.
An the UMP was designed as a cheaper alternative to the MP5, nothing more, nothing less. Consequently, the MP5 still smashes it in sales.

Hyok Kim

Dear Alex C, first of all, I commend you for willing to spend an hour’s worth of your time for detail stripping and having the expertise to check if the parts are worn enough to warrant replacing for safe firing of MP5. Not all of us are as dedicated and as informed as you are.

“An the UMP was designed as a cheaper alternative to the MP5, nothing more, nothing less. Consequently, the MP5 still smashes it in sales”

Yes, UMP was designed to be more of an economical alternative to MP5, but there is more, it is also designed to be more user friendly when it comes to maintenance and more durable, after all, a solid block of metal is more durable than a bunch of metals grinding on one another. This is from HK itself. Also, just because one product outsells another does not necessarily mean the product outselling the other is a ‘better’ weapon.

For an example, Taurus revolvers outselling Korth revolvers is no proof that Tauraus makes better revolvers than Korth.

FourString

I don’t think Alex C. was saying that the MP5 is superior (although I would argue that it might be preferred overall because of its smoother action), just that it smashes the UMP in agency/military sales, in particular. However, I upvoted you because I remember hearing that the UMP was built to be more durable (what with the polymer and everything) and simpler, so it sounds like you might possibly be correct on that front.

Hyok Kim

“An the UMP was designed as a cheaper alternative to the MP5, nothing more, nothing less. Consequently, the MP5 still smashes it in sales.” – Alex C.

So Alex C must believe MP5 is superior overall to UMP, otherwise why would people prefer more expensive, and harder to service MP5 according to Alex C’s reasoning?

Btw. I would too prefer MP5 over UMP if I had a budget for armorer specializing in MP5. This explains why MP5 sells better with LE and military, with their ‘built-in’ armorers.

I’m speaking for customers who have to service his own UMP or MP5, sometimes in less than ideal environment.

FourString

I think that you may want to check your deduction. The phrase “the MP5 still smashes [the UMP] in sales” does not necessarily translate to “the MP5 smashes the UMP in all aspects” :]

After all, *”in sales”* was put there for a reason, I’d presume ..

Hyok Kim

I would agree with your implication except that Alex C. had claimed UMP had no advantage over MP5 other than more economical price AND used the sales figure to back up his claim.

FourString

I think somewhere in HK literature, the UMP is marketed as simpler and more durable, but I can’t be absolutely sure. Feel free to check it out and let us know what you find. I’m just going off of what I learned in my adolescence lol.

sadlerbw

I’ll admit, I have a ‘thing’ for unusual semi-auto actions, and anything with a fixed barrel gets my attention. I’m not sure I am ready to start saving up for one, but this would certainly make my P7M8 a little jealous in the safe! To me, this is a little bit like the boberg arms gun that pulls rounds backwards out of the magazine instead of pushing them forward. It may not be the most dead-nuts reliable system ever made, but it is interesting and at least they are trying something different. I’m not sure I’m ready to dig up #3K to buy one, but I think it is a pretty cool machine!

Ichi

That integrated suppressor in the video looks crazy awesome!

Gidge

If you’re building a pampered match gun built for absolute precision and not intended for combat use why would you use a Series 80 style trigger (watch the video and note the firing pin block). All you’re doing is adding moving parts and increasing trigger weight.

Giolli Joker

Can’t tell about No. of parts, but regarding trigger weight:
“The trigger is so light and so crisp that it surprised the hell out of me, breaking at 2 pounds or so.”

Giolli Joker

I want it… 🙁
The price seems even reasonable, especially for a Korth… it’s half what they ask for a revolver, with much more technology involved.
It’s just a pity they didn’t go for a smoother design, the trigger guard with the support for the weak hand index finger is quite ugly…
(anyway, still way better looking than their previous pistol, imho)

strongarm

Wish that German firm made this kind a pistol after R51 introduced. Now everyboody
knows there is better gun than Colt 1911, M53… Pity… Poor Germans.

BEUPHERS-ALL-AMERICAN

I’ll only buy a German-made gun when the Germans learn to speak properly – instead of that crazy-sounding foreign talk that no one understands.
If English was good enough for Jesus, then its good enough for everyone in the world.

All the best movies, music and literature is in English. Why anyone would waste time learning another language beats me. I suppose they just don’t have a great education where they come from -Just like Mexicans & the rest.